Speaking with Whitebeard
by BlueOrchid2
Summary: Ace is scared about becoming the Second Division's Commander, and decides to finally confess his parentage to his Pops.


Prompts:

1. It was a huge door. I knocked and…

2. The hardest thing I ever did was…

Scene seen in the manga chapter 552. Some of the spoken sentences are taken/paraphrased from there…

* * *

Ace stared at the huge door as if transfixed. He could feel his heart beating rapidly against his chest, and every small sound of the ship made him jump. He had already been looked at askance by Jozu who was passing by, but thankfully the silent man hadn't commented on Ace's strained smile and weird loitering in front of Oyaji's door. Because he was loitering. It had taken Ace three days to get here, in front of this door, and still he just couldn't seem to gather enough courage to knock.

Footsteps reached Ace's ears, and he cocked his head, straining his hearing and hoping that the person was going to go the other way. Ace's eyes widened in recognition: it was Marco! He had learned to distinguish the various Commanders' footsteps when he was still trying to kill Oyaji and he was stuck on the _Moby Dick_ without any allies. Damn! Jozu must have told Marco after all! They had probably noticed Ace acting weird since Pops had announced that he wanted Ace to be the Second Division's Commander, and they were worried for him!

Panicking, Ace looked between the door and the hallway, weighing his options: if Marco got a hold of him and started being a mother hen as usual, it would take Ace forever to get the guts to talk to Oyaji!

Taking a deep breath, Ace turned back around and knocked o the door, feeling as if he was about to faint.

"Come in, son."

* * *

Edward Newgate wasn't a stupid man. On the contrary, he was quite smart. Just because he preferred leading a relatively calm life (for a pirate), and was fine with being a Yonkou, rather than aiming to become the Pirate King, didn't mean that he didn't have the resources to become it if he really wanted to. Still, he would probably never do it: he had no intention of starting a full out war with the other Yonkou and put his sons in unnecessary danger for such a shallow pipedream…

When he had decided to make Ace the Second Division's Commander, he had done it because it was a way to show the insecure young man that he was really accepted in the crew, not to mention the fact that the boy packed a mean punch. He had not expected though Ace's terror-filled reaction, and his two-day escape from the _Moby Dick_. He had only gotten back yesterday, brooding and taciturn, and hadn't even explained himself to Marco or Thatch.

Really, it was at times like this that Whitebeard wanted to go find Garp and beat the shit out of him. What had the man done to his grandson that made him so scared of losing his friends? He had been on the _Moby Dick_ for more than a year, and he _still_ sometimes acted as if everyone was going to turn their back on him!

And now that kid had been skulking in front of his door for hours, probably gathering his courage to come talk to him. Whitebeard really wanted to slam the door opened and demand some answers, but he knew that then Ace would only clam up. Damn, he would have to find some other way to shake some sense in the kid…

Finally, _finally_, ten minutes later a timid knock was heard on the door, and Newgate immediately called:

"Come in son."

The door creaked open, and Ace shuffled in. Whitebeard took a moment to look his son over: he had dark bags underneath his eyes and his complexion was ashen, the freckles standing out even more on his face.

"Sit down, son. You don't look well."

Ace nodded meekly, and sat on the end of the bed, staring at the opposite wall with hunched shoulders. Whitebeard waited a few minutes for Ace to begin speaking, but seeing that the child was biting his lower lip in nervousness and gave no sign that he was going to talk, the old pirate prompted.

"You wanted to speak with me, son?"

Ace nodded again, and took a deep breath. He turned towards Pops, but didn't manage to look in his eyes, staring above his right shoulder instead.

"I have something important to tell you, Oyaji…"

Ace faltered for a moment, and continued,

"I'm not really Garp's grandson… he sort of adopted me after my mother died of childbirth…"

"All right… and?"

"W-well… m-my _father_," Ace sneered, as if the word left a foul taste in his mouth, "was Gol D. Roger."

Ace held his breath, waiting for something bad to happen… and was completely stunned when Pops started laughing uproariously.

"Gurarara! This is such a surprise! You really don't have his character though, you know?"

"Wasn't he your enemy?" Ace asked, and continued in a low, scared voice that Whitebeard had to strain his ears to hear, "will you send me away?"

Pops snorted and said:

"When you said you had something important to tell me, I worried a bit… but then you came out with this idiocy here? Who cares who conceived you, we are all children of the sea! Gurarara!"

Oh, this explained so many things! And now that he looked closer, he could see the resemblance with the late Pirate King… probably the reason why Ace refused to grow a moustache or beard. Whitebeard took another swig of sake, while watching the boy's reaction with the corner of his eyes. Ace was staring at him with wide eyes and his mouth was hanging open. Really, the kid looked so small and fragile now, that Whitebeard wanted to sweep him into a hug and destroy anyone and anything that had ever hurt him. He held his scowl back, not wanting Ace to think that it was directed at him, and distracted himself from his murderous thoughts with more questions.

"So the name Portgas? Where does it come from?"

"It was my mother's… Portgas D. Rogue. She carried me for almost two years instead of nine months to protect me… so I was born about a year and a half after Roger's execution."

"Hmhmm… why do you hate him son?"

Ace's jaw clenched in anger and he looked away, refusing to answer. Pops frowned, but dropped the subject.

"So, about your brother, Luffy, how does that work?"

"We met when I was ten… Luffy, S-Sabo and I became sworn brothers a few months later."

Whitebeard's brow furrowed: Sabo? Ace had another brother? Though, judging by the fact that his breath had hitched when speaking his name, and that this was the first time that Pops had ever heard of him, when Ace never shut up about his little brother Luffy, he figured that there was probably a painful story behind it.

"And Garp? I'm guessing that it was Roger who told that old fox about you, wasn't it?"

"Yes, it was…"

Whitebeard chuckled, and continued:

"And Luffy is Garp's biological grandson instead?"

Ace nodded, and Pops laughed again.

"Gurarara! What a family! You, the kid of the Pirate King, and your brother the son of the most wanted man on the planet! Gurarara!"

Ace's eyes widened in shock:

"W-what? H-how do you know about Luffy's father? Even Luffy doesn't know who he is!"

"Garp has been my enemy for a long time, son. In certain circles it is well known that the Revolutionary Dragon is the Marine's hero Monkey D. Garp's only son."

Ace blinked in astonishment:

"Wait… you mean that all this time you thought that I was Dragon's son too?"

"Gurarara! I told you, son, it doesn't really matter who gave you life. Let the Marines and the fools get hung up on useless shit like that…"

And for the first time in a long time, Ace felt a smile begin to grow and grow on his face, till he was beaming and laughing in happiness. Oyaji wasn't going to throw him out! Oyaji didn't care! Ace flung himself at Pops, hugging him, tears of happiness streaming down his face, and when Pops put a hand around his shoulders and held him tightly against him, Ace finally felt safe again.

* * *

**A/N:** There are way too few One Piece fanfictions out there! I practically read all the good ones already! (if you read slash, go read the stories by maggiepiece, Reiki-Piratical, and New Neon!)

So, I just had to add something myself! :D

And I might write a sequel/companion piece to this story: I'll post a link to it when I do!


End file.
